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Sunday, August 10, 2008

UNDERSTANDING COMICS AS LEGITIMATE LITERATURE: A PRESENTATION AT DEFCON 7

By Chris WilsonEditor

Comics are literature, legitimate literature, and despite the cries of silliness from the detractors, comics may very well be more influential in defining reading habits than traditional fiction. The research clearly demonstrates that children’s motivations for reading are defined by several factors, including choice. When children are given permission to chose their own reading, motivation for reading skyrockets. Do you know what consistently rates at the top of children’s preferred reading? Comics and magazines.

Whenever I tell people about The Graphic Classroom and my focus of using comics in my classroom, I hear a familiar story. It goes something like this:

“I (or son, daughter, grandkid, niece, nephew, cousin) just hated to read. Then I (or he or she) started to read comics and it changed everything.”

This common theme is reason enough to study comics seriously and conduct research on the impact of comic literature in the classroom. When I talked to illustrator Steve Erwin at DefCon 7, he asked me if he could present with me, having worked for Capstone Press to create some historical comics for school-aged children.

Steve and I talked about the dumbing down of stories, especially those stories created for elementary children. We cautioned those in attendance about the pitfall of treating 10-year-olds like … 10-year-olds, and about making public service announcements and after-school specials disguised as comics. Children, as you well know, need authentic literature, powerful stories that connect on a deep, emotional level – stories that engage readers, stories that feel real.

With that authenticity also comes the delicate balance between art and audience. I do not advocate for the sanitation of art just because the audience consists of children or teens. However, creators and publishers must be keenly aware of the content and audience when creating comic literature that may be used in the classroom. Creators should ask themselves: “Do I want my work to be in schools?” If so, then that creator must consider issues such as: profanity, big breasts, nudity, near-nudity, smoking, drinking, drugs, crime, sex, sexual themes, hyper-sexualization, religion, and magic.

Teachers should not discount works simply because the aforementioned issues are present, and creators should not preclude such topics. Rather, creators and teachers should judge the work based on its literary merit and evaluate the contents based on its equivalent in the traditional prose genre.

Recently, illustrator George O’Connor contacted me. I had reviewed JOURNEY INTO MOHAWK COUNTRY and had “Not Recommended” it. I based that review on one panel where three Native American ladies were shown topless from the side. There was also a portrayal of the main character drunk. O’Connor contacted me and asked to discuss the review. His main argument was that all the research pointed to the fact that the Native American women in this region were accustomed to wearing only a loincloth in the summer, just like the men. His portrayal was factual and authentic and to cover them up would be to be disingenuous. He did, however, consider the issue and only a breast was exposed and it was from the side.

In the end, I agreed with his argument and changed my recommendation to “Recommended with Reservations”. I also changed my age recommendation, increasing it to “Middle School”. This is a perfect example of how delicate the balance between art, authenticity and education is with comic literature.

I thought it appropriate for the audience to hear from kids who read comics. So I brought some children ages 8 to 13 and they each spoke about their favorite comics and why they are drawn to those particular story lines. I followed this information up with some of the research that supports the use of comics in the classroom, all of which will be discussed in my Master’s thesis.

More and more teachers are discovering the power of comic literature in the lives of children and adults. While the use of comics in the classroom is relatively new, it is gaining momentum. With that said, here is the comic-inspired photo essay of the DefCon 7 experience.

(The photo essay was created using Comic Life,which would be an excellent program to use in atechnology-based classroom.)

I'm glad you shared your experiences with us, and I agree that there is that familiar story: the kid who only found reading interesting when reading comics, and then graduated to other novels later on. Why do we ignore that?Thanks for all the work and all the exploration you do in this field.Kevin

About TGC

The Graphic Classroom is a resource for teachers and librarians to help them stock high quality, educational-worthy, graphic novels and comics in their classroom or school library. I read and review every graphic novel or comic on this blog and give it a rating as to appropriateness for the classroom.

Submit Your Comics

Would you like your comic or graphic novel reviewed here at THE GRAPHIC CLASSROOM? You can do so in two ways, one of which is guaranteed and the other is not:

1. Send me a copy of the comic or graphic novel. I will read it and review it as soon as possible. You can email me privately and I will give you my mailing address. abikerbard@mac.com

2. You can simply tell me about your creation.

If you send me a copy, then I will review your submission. I will be honest and fair and do my best to get your book reviewed in a timely manner. I am a full time graduate student, so my time is limited. If I receive a lot of books, then I will put them on a first-come, first-reviewed list and do the best I can.

If you cannot or will not send me a media copy of your book, then you can just request that I review it. My money is short, as I am going to school and not working, so you are depending on my ability to afford your book. There is no guarantee that I will get to your work nor any guarantee that I will even review it. If I can afford it and have time to read it, then I will most certainly review it. It's all about the teachers, librarians and kids.

Reviews are never based on free media copies. I am writing my Master's Thesis on the subject of comics in the classroom, so this is important to me. I am committed to this and I take reviews very seriously. I do not rip into books in order to get readership. I will have a critical eye, but I am also excited about helping teachers find great books for the classroom.

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About The Editor

My name is Chris Wilson. My first name is Jack, which is why you see it on the posts, but I usually go by my middle name: Chris. Having worked as the Managing Editor for a weekly newspaper then as the Director of a non-profit for people with disabilities, I have gone back to school. I am now a full time graduate student in the college of education at Missouri State University. I am getting my Masters of Science in Education – Elementary Education.

I know that reading is a problem for many students today. I feel strongly that comics and graphic novels can be one way that we can combat this problem. Graphics novels should be in every public school library and classroom library. That is why I am choosing to write my thesis on using comics and graphic novels in the elementary classroom.

Email Meabikerbard@mac.com

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Disclaimer

Some comic literature is not appropriate for every classroom, or every community. Some are not appropriate for any classroom. You need to review any piece of comic literature for yourself and determine if it is appropriate for your grade, class, curriculum, goals, school and community.